Ancient Shrouded Armor
Ancient Shrouded Armor is a unique light armor set and an upgraded variation of shrouded armor, though it is visually identical. Acquisition The armor set can be obtained at the conclusion of the Dark Brotherhood side quest "Locate the Assassin of Old." The quest is given by Olava the Feeble, and can only be accepted if the bonus requirement of "Breaching Security" has been met. The armor itself can be found on the corpse of an assassin inside a secret room behind the throne in Hag's End. While Hag's End can be accessed before accepting the quest, the pull chain to open the secret door will not appear until Olava has been visited. This can be bypassed by activating the ritual stone ability while next to the wall with the secret door, then proceed to sprint out of Hag's End. When you arrive outside you will be surrounded by undead followers. Kill the Assassin of Old (always one hit as he has no health) wearing the Ancient Shrouded Armor, and loot his body for the Ancient Shrouded Armor. This can be repeated multiple times by leaving the location and waiting a few days. This allows you to obtain multiple sets of the Armor. Smithing All pieces of the armor set can be upgraded at a workbench with a piece of leather and the Arcane Blacksmith perk, however they do not benefit from any Smithing perks. This means the armor cannot be improved past flawless quality without boosting the Smithing skill over 100. This can be achieved by using enchanted items and/or blacksmithing potions to fortify Smithing. Attributes by piece Trivia *The armor rating of the Ancient Shrouded Armor is extremely high, with the head and body part being between scaled and glass armor, while the gloves and boots are even as good as Dragonscale armor. In addition, wearing all four pieces of shrouded armor grants the Dragonborn a further increase in the total armor rating by 25. This makes the ancient shrouded armor one of the best armor sets in the game, especially on lower levels, as it can be easily acquired and has unleveled stats and enchantments. Bugs *The cowl appears invisible on Khajiit (but removes part of the hair) and Argonians (removes hair and/or horns), however the armor, gloves and boots are unchanged, no matter the race. Using this cowl on Khajiit and Argonians allows the Dragonborn to wear most other helms at the same time, providing both enchantments and bonuses. This works for both the Dragonborn and characters alike if the second helm is equipped through the console. However, equipping another helm will remove the full armor set bonus. This does not apply to an enchanted circlet—wearing that along with the hood will maintain the full armor set bonus plus the enchantment. * The ancient cowl and the worn shrouded cowl can both be equipped at the same time, along with other helms if the Dragonborn is a Khajiit. *It is possible to obtain multiple sets of this armor by looting the dead assassin, then using the spell Dead Thrall on him. When entering a new location, their armor will respawn, then they can be killed and the process can be repeated. *Using the Ritual Stone power in Hag's End can raise the assassin corpse. Quickly leaving the area, then killing the 'Assassin of old' allows the Dragonborn to obtain the ancient shrouded armor set without completing (or even starting) the Dark Brotherhood quest line. **Obtaining the armor in this manner, may cause it to not be upgradable at the workbench, even if the Dragonborn has all the necessary smithing perks . *Placing it on a mannequin in Heljarchen Hall can cause it to lose any Smithing bonus. In addition, if placed on a mannequin that has already had an armor set on it, the ancient shrouded armor can respawn, as well as change the currently equipped set to a mix of shrouded armor and whatever armor was placed on it before. *If the armor is not obtained after finding the assassin and come back to Hags' End at a later time, it will despawn alongside the assassin, making it impossible to obtain. Appearances * de:Alte Schattenrüstung es:Armadura etérea antigua (conjunto) fr:Armure sibylline antique ru:Доспех Тёмного Братства (Skyrim)#Древний доспех теней Category:Skyrim: Light Armor Sets